Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Radio Disney Stations Up for Sale (EXCLUSIVE)

Sale
of stations in small- to mid-sized markets will enable Disney to focus on top
25 markets

In the
latest cost-cutting move at Disney, the company is seeking buyers for six AM
and one FM radio station that are part of the Radio Disney portfolio in the
United States.

Disney Media
Networks is handling the sale of the stations in small- to mid-sized markets:
Albany, New York; Kansas City, Missouri; Little Rock, Arkansas; Milwaukee,
Wisc.; Richmond, Virginia; Salt Lake City, Utah; and San Antonio, Texas. The
radio station in Little Rock is on the FM dial.

It is
unclear just how much coin Disney could collect from the sale of the stations
aimed at kids, tweens and families. The company does not break out results from
its radio stations in earnings reports, incorporating them, instead, with the
media networks group, which also includes broadcast and cable TV networks like
ABC, Disney Channel and ESPN.

Disney still
considers Radio Disney a strong asset — especially as a platform to promote its
young Walt Disney Records and Disney Channel stars, as well as company TV
shows, theme parks, online, game and film properties.

But it sees
the sale as a way for Burbank-based Radio Disney to focus on the 24 stations it
operates in the top 25 markets, with the exception of Baltimore, Maryland. New
York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas round out the top five.

Sale also
comes as Disney is looking to boost revenue and improve profit margins
companywide through the sale of assets or staff reductions.

This isn’t
the first time Disney is looking to sell off Radio Disney stations. It silenced
six stations in 2010, also in small- to mid-market cities like Riviera Beach,
Florida and Portsmouth, Virginia, as it sought buyers.

All of Radio
Disney’s stations, are supported by local and national advertisers, while it
also generates revenue from national advertisers on its digital and satellite
distribution platforms like RadioDisney.com, SiriusXM satellite radio, iTunes
Radio Tuner, Facebook and mobile phones. Programming can also be downloaded via
the iTunes Store.

“In the past
year, we’ve driven new content delivery and ad sales revenue opportunities with
Radio

Disney
Junior and the Radio Disney Music Awards, among others initiatives, and we
intend to build on those opportunities while keeping our organization strong
and focused on serving our listeners with programming that entertains and is
appropriate for kids- and families,” said Phil Guerini, VP, programming and
general manager, Radio Disney, in a statement.

Disney also
operates 12 Radio Disney stations in South America, which are not part of the sale.

Disney kept
ownership of Radio Disney when it sold ABC Radio Holdings to Citadel
Broadcasting Corp in 2007. Sale at the time consisted of 22 large-market radio
stations and the ABC Radio Network.

Radio Disney
started broadcasting in late 1996, with the slogan, “We’re all ears.” It
launched Radio Disney Music Awards in 2002.